ERIC Number: ED140652
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1976
Pages: 14
Abstractor: N/A
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Linguistic Development as a Limiting Factor in Learning to Read.
Pike, Ruth
Sixty-five grade 5-6 children were tested on a verbal recall task involving material of varying semantic and syntactic content. There was no difference between best and poorest readers in their performance on random lists of words, but there were clear differences on meaningful sentences and on syntactically well-formed but semantically anomalous sentences. Semantic and syntactic regularities provide cues which may facilitate performance on all but the random lists of words, if the child has knowledge of the structural possibilities of English and the acceptable word combinations. The results on the recall task shows, therefore, that not all children are equally able to make use of semantic and syntactic knowledge in processing oral language and that this knowledge is related to their reading competence. The same linguistic information may be used by efficient adult readers in processing textual materials. Thus it seems likely that there may be a threshold level of proficiency prerequisite to reading development. (Author)
Descriptors: Child Language, Children, Elementary Education, English, Grammar, Language Acquisition, Language Processing, Linguistic Competence, Linguistic Performance, Psycholinguistics, Reading Ability, Reading Development, Reading Processes, Reading Readiness, Reading Skills, Recall (Psychology), Semantics, Sentences, Syntax, Verbal Learning
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers
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